Playlist: 1979

[Warning: This Post Contains Many, Many Words Below the Cut.]

Let's go back a couple years from the last playlist. As before, the flash object below the cut is an embedded playlist of American Top 40 hits I liked, this time from 1979.

Playlist: 1981

[Warning: This Post Contains Many, Many Words Below the Cut.]

The flash object below the cut is a playlist of songs that were either Billboard or American Top 40 hits in 1981 (back when it was hosted by Casey Kasem, for those of you old enough to remember that). It's obviously not even close to all the hits on either chart, but it's a good cross-section of music I actually enjoyed listening to.

Things I Learned From TV, Part 1

Got blue balls? There's an app for that!

A commercial advertising something called "Juicy TV", which appears to involve very large-breasted women, touted their service, which apparently includes an iPhone app. The statement above was not literally in the commercial, but it sure seemed to be the message.

Commercials with the sound off can be strange.

Based solely on the visuals, I believe that the message of a recent Snickers ad is this: When you are transformed into an old woman, just eat a Snickers bar! You'll soon be transformed back to your virile male self.

Sadly, the sound being on would probably confirm this was basically the message.

Things from bad movies are, well, bad.

Lesson for Saturday: if you try to hit ScaryDemonGuy with a car, and he jump/walks his way over it instead? Chances are, the same thing will happen when you put the car in reverse and try again.

I didn't catch the name of the movie, but the 10 minutes we saw was pretty bad.

Here's something I'm sick of...

I'm sick of people categorizing moderates as wishy-washy and unable to make up their minds, especially if they're willing to compromise on certain points.

First off, political opinions do not just come in "left" and "right". There's a whole wide spectrum. For instance, when it comes to abortion: you can be avidly for legalized abortion or avidly against it, but it's just as possible to be in favor of legalized abortion generally but also in favor of trying to minimize it through some means, or you can be against abortion generally but in favor of leaving it legal under certain circumstances. That's at least four major positions, but two of them are more moderate than the others. It's a complex issue; it can have complex positions.

Also, taking a compromise position takes both empathy for people one doesn't entirely agree with and the ability to discard preconceived notions in favor of examining the various positions to try to find where opinions are either more similar than one might have originally thought, or find where complex opinions have points that people are not as fervent about. It quite often accomplishes nothing to just keep on insisting Your Way prevails over Their Way; decisions are hard to make when no one can agree. Coming up with a suggestion that's "close enough to Our Way to be satisfactory" will be more effective in many cases. Just because it can take longer doesn't make it "wishy-washy"; it just makes it careful.

And frankly, the world could use more people willing to be careful.

Misread

What it said: mythological conspiracy.
What I read: mycological conspiracy.
What I pictured: Nazi mushrooms.
What you probably just did: rolled your eyes and suppressed laughter.

Project Runway Finale: Pretty Darn Good

On the off chance there's anyone a) reading this blog, who b) hasn't seen it, have a jump tag. Oh, and warning: it's very, very wordy.

random rants

Rant ho:

PR Pre-Finale Impressions

Should I go again with the excuses I could make about why I haven't done any more episode reviews? Naah, just fill in whatever reason you like. Anyhow, cut for anyone who hasn't seen the episode yet.

And another thing...

So, the teabaggers, or tea partiers, or whatever they're calling themselves this week... basically a lot of them are objecting to our national debt going up because of "Obamacare", right?

Where the heck were all these people during the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II years?

Yeah, that's the answer [updated]

AP: Bricks have been hurled through Democrats' windows, a propane line was cut at the home of a congressman's brother and lawmakers who voted for a federal health care bill have received obscenity-laced phone threats in the days before and after passage of the sweeping legislation.

Yeah, guys, that's doing a lot for your image as reasonable people who should ever be listened to, there.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement that while many Americans are angry over passage of the health care bill, "violence and threats are unacceptable.

"That's not the American way," Boehner said. "We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change."

Okay, so, that's one Republican who I think has responded appropriately. Anyone else wanna step up?

Update: Add a few more to the list, including one from my home state. That's better. A little slow out of the gate, but in this case I'll go with "better late than never".

But a big thumbs-down to Eric Cantor, who used the incidents to actually complain about Democrats politicizing the incidents, in a press conference he held to... politicize the incidents.